newbie

[Zann]

Hello all im new the the saltwater hobby i have been learning alot .
have had freash water for years, and broke down and got a 29 gal saltwater 4 months ago . i have to say i have had some problems .

there are so mmany ways to go it seems hard to know what to do to make it successfull .

i guess the biggest problem is alge i guess
i have the tank pretty much where it needs to be as for ph calcium and
all . made the mistake of useing crushed coral. didnt find out till after that it will cause your nitrates to be high.
i need help with the alge problem i went to bobs tropicals and rented a diatom filter to clean it and it did a great job .
was clear and looked great .
a week later and its cloudy looking again.
i ordered a beter protein skimmer its on the way i hope it helps.

well anyway heres what i have
29 gal tank with a cascade canister filter 700
2 power compacs 65 w each 10000k and atinic
getting a coral lfe super skimmer for 65 gal .
i also have a 75 gpd ro/di system coming.

here are some pic not the best pics but some you can see the cloudyness.
i need some advice i really like this hobby!
i live in southaven if anyone can come by and talk that would be great .
would love to know how to set up a sump i have a 20 gal home made one, i got for free just no pump or anything but the tank.
i work at fedx day shift and work every weekend that sucks so meeting that you all have might be a problem to attend .
unless it is in the evening or late after noon.

well my pics are to big to post i can email them .

 

[sperry]

First

to Reef Central

Do you still have the crushed coral or did you replace it with sand? What live stock do you have in there? How often / much are you feeding? What filter media do you have in the canister?
The skimmer and RO/DI will help.
You are saying the problem is algae but do you mean the water is cloudy? That sounds more like a bacteria bloom. Post here before renting equipment, I think some members have every piece of hardware ever made buried in the garage somewhere.
Is your tank drilled? I think Del was selling an overflow if not. Our last meeting discussed sumps, Maybe Barret has a digital copy of the hand out he can send you.
The best way to post pics is to create a free account on www.photobucket.com and then link to them. It is an easy way to get around the size limitations. Or you can email them to me and I can post them for you. scott.perry1(at)gmail.com

 

[Zann]

thanks sperry
i have to go to work but ill be back this after noon to answer all the questions.
but i can say i had a alge bloom the cloudyness was green .
i use boyds chemi pure as my filter media and bio stuff.
ill be bale to tell more later .
thanks again for responing so fast.

 

[scarson61]

Did you rinse the crushed coral before you put it in the tank? If a diatom filter cleaned it the first time it would appear to me that there is some dust from your crushed coral in the tank. You could always put some sand in with the crushed coral. The main problem with crushed coral and nitrates is the fact that food (and other decaying matter) will get trapped down in the open spaces so if you vacuum your crushed coral out real well it should help on keeping nitrates down. The skimmer and ro/di will help a great deal on keeping your water quality high but when starting up a new tank (under a year old) you will have algae issues that you have to keep on top of I have always dealt with mine by doing consistent (once a week) water changes. We had a great meeting on sumps this weekend hate you had to miss that but the one thing you will have to do is drill (best option) or put a hang on overflow (bad idea if you have a wife who likes her floor because they are prone to flood.) But a sump is an ideal situation for setting up a tank because of the increased water volume and setting up a custom filter. In my sump I have a protein skimmer, return pump chamber, and a refugium with deep sand bed and cheto (lit on a reverse schedule from the main tank). If you ever make it down to Oxford I can show you my set up and try to help you out and I am sure some of the other club members will help as well.

 

[bshumake]

Hey Zaan. Any reference to Farscape?
I know exactly what you're going through with your tank. My first tank was a CC bottom and I had an algae bloom that lasted MONTHS. I could only see fish when they were next to the glass. Otherwise I just had a green glowing hexagon in my dorm. First off. You got clear water with the diatome because it was small enought to filter out the algae cells. What I woulnd up doing was getting some of the "Aquarium Clear" and a Marineland Magnum 350 with a micron cartridge. I have Kent "Aquarium clear" at my house you can have. My suggestion; If you can replace the CC with some smaller aragonite and sugarfine sand. Dave has the ultracool IndoPacific from caribsea that I think is AWESOME. Decreased photoperiod might be of use but I didn't alter mine. Your skimmer will probably pull out most if not all of the algae. Man that is gonna be the worst cup of skimmate ever! Like Scott and Sanford mentioned, we're a really helpful group and I'm sure we can get you on the right track.
I think Scott should be our official Welcome Committee Chair for the club!

 

[neuroslicer]

I think the problem with crushed coral has been highly exaggerated, and serves as an excuse for those with other poor animal husbandry practices. I have used crushed coral in the past, and am using it now with my frag tank. Nitrates and phosphates are zero, and I have no algae in my tank! This is due to several factors:
1) I don't overfeed
2) I have a high quality skimmer
3) I'm growing macroalgae in the sump to export nitrates, and a phosphate chamber to keep phosphates low.
4) I've got a decent number of scavangers to keep the substrate free of detritus, a sand sifter to help work the substrate, and a very hungry tang to graze down algae in the tank.
5) I'm NOT changing water more than 10% once a month.

I'm sure there are many of you out there in Reefdom with nitrates problems and algae problems and are using sand as substrate. If so, consider what else you might need to improve to bring your nitrates down.

 

[Cabin3tGuy]

I would say the first biggest thing would be the size of the aquarium you started with ....... water volume is the key when it comes to saltwater forgiveness ..... the more water in your system the more room you have to screw things up ... as far as filtration I run a Fluval 405 on my 29g because of the range of media I can add to it for any situation ( fine or coarse sponges, phosphate remover, purigen, seagel, carbon, etc...) with a tunze reefpack and a uv sterlizer

If you have a spare 20g aquarium and an overflow box with some minor plumbing you can quickly have a sump setup up and increase the water in your system by 150%

 

[Zann]

hello again
yeah i need to get a vacum for the CC it would help also
i do water changes every week 10%
oh here are some pics

ok i have a clean up crew snails
crabs
i have a feather duster
some Blue Green Chromis
and a couple other Damsels
and a flame angel
and live rock

i feed twice aday its hard to figure on how much but i use, frozen brine shrimp and formula one frozen blocks. i cut the blocks in half. or a quarter size and put into a cup of tank water to thaw and smash it up.
my tank is not drilled and as said before i am afraid of it over flowing if i use a over flow.

in my canister i use Boyd Chemi-Pure
course sponge
cell pore bio blox
i have ordered
Magnavore Pura Complete
to go in also

 

[neuroslicer]

You'll really need to increase the amount of live rock you have. That's probably the most important substrate for converting nitrogenous waste and exporting it as nitrogen gas. I've go with at least 50 - 60 points of LR if not more. This of course has to be cured before adding it to your tank.

How long did you let your tank cycle before adding critters? Did you cycle it until NH4 and NO2 levels dropped to zero?

Have you measured your water chemistry? (especially NH4, NO2 and NO3... but also pH, alkalinity, and calcium).

 

[Zann]

no i put damsels in it to help it cycle i didnt lose any
next tank which will be a 24 gal aqua pod with the 150w mh
i will cure the rock i get in it before i add anything else
i plan on puting more rock in the 29 gal.
the levels are fine 0 and 0 nitates are around 30 though
calcium is 430.
alkalinity is fine as far i can tell with thsi kit where yo uhave to count the drops.
ph is 8.2 to 8.3
as for the fish and evrything they are doing fine not sick or acting weird .
just the water is a little cloudy

 

[bshumake]

I'm with Jay on this one. Your set-up looks like its still cycling. Definately a skimmer will drastically help. You should have about 2# of LR per 1G of water. Its a nice rule of thumb because it works surface area and bacterial bioload into the equation to be about a 2:1 ratio. Don't cucle with fish. Its cruel to them and the ones that tend to make it are the ones you really don't want in the first place with peaceful tankmates. I would give that CC bed a good cleaning. When you said CC I was thinking about the Forida "boulders" that I had in the past once. You're going to need active filtration for a bit to get the system back in balance so change out that carbon and get the skimmer up and running. Also, Check your kits and make sure their not expired. Ask Jay to e-mail you his Reef Chemistry packet from the October meeting he hosted. (AWESOME STUFF JAY! A 1x10^6 "Thanks").

 

[Zann]

just did another check nitrite 0 and ammonia 0 nitrates 30
calcium 430
ph 8.3
and test kits are not outdated

 

[sperry]

My $0.02

My $0.02

WOW most people have to buy phytoplankton and add it to their tanks.
I'm gonna go with the others. More rock, cycled before you put it in there. Get the total up to around 50# at least. 60# would be better. Having room for the fish to swim is over rated anyway.
Vacuum the Crushed Coral to get any gunk out of it.
Use your RO/DI when it comes in.
Skim, skim and skim. Bet the first cup is gonna be NASTY.
Feed less and less often. Like maybe a half cube every other day. They wont starve. Also melt the cube in a cup with tank water then pour it through a net discarding the water. Just swish the net around in the tank to get the food out. The juice has phosphates in it that can add to algae troubles. Get a phosphate test kit if you can. Not a necessity but cool to know how your doing. Switch the brine out for mysis. Mysis are more nutritional.
I dont see a power head in the tank. Adding one would increase the water movement in the display area. That will help keep debris in the water column instead of settling so the filter can pick it up.
I would add some more crabs too. But then I like watching them.....

Flame Angel=Very Cool

 

[Zann]

yeah ill do that the ro/di was shiped today the skimmer was shiped yesterday
dont have a power head for it yet put a spray bar in for now it moves the water pretty well you can see parts in the CC moving from it

 

[fifamickey]

Something else to consider about your canister filter, when using sponges they need to be cleaned frequently (almost daily), or your Nitrates will rise. After getting a better skimmer I took all filter pads out of my canister filter. Unbelievable difference in water quality. Currently my canister filter only has charcoal and a few bio-stars. It is more of a sump than filter. And if I loose power I don't have to worry about watering the carpet. To chime in with everyone else increasing the quantity of live rock will compensate for what the filter is trying to do.

 

[Cabin3tGuy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9866895#post9866895 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fifamickey
Something else to consider about your canister filter, when using sponges they need to be cleaned frequently (almost daily), or your Nitrates will rise. After getting a better skimmer I took all filter pads out of my canister filter. Unbelievable difference in water quality. Currently my canister filter only has charcoal and a few bio-stars. It is more of a sump than filter. And if I loose power I don't have to worry about watering the carpet. To chime in with everyone else increasing the quantity of live rock will compensate for what the filter is trying to do.

Very true .... Sponges can very expensive if you replace them often like you should if not they tend to get nasty... I use only carbon, matrix, and purigen in my canister

 

[Zann]

ill remove the sponge how about the floss
i use purigen also